Bay Village primary switch plan on November ballot

City Council Monday approved seeking future election cost savings by placing a measure to move the primary election date to conform with the rest of Cuyahoga County.

The move allows the city to place on the ballot a proposal to move its primary date to same first Tuesday in September as other cities in Cuyahoga County. Currently, the city’s is one week after those of other cities, meaning Bay would have to foot the bulk of the costs – instead of the county doing so. The proposal comes just a few days after Cuyahoga County Board of Elections officials said there is no need for a primary in Bay Village since there is only one contested race in the council contests this year.

The Ward 3 contest pits former school board member and mayoral candidate Karen Lieske against Engineer Bob Ziebarth in the race to succeed Scott Pohlkamp in the position. Pohlkamp is running unopposed for the council-at-large seat being vacated by Jim Scott, who opted not to seek re-election, citing family and business reasons.

In the other unopposed races, current Ward 2 Councilman Paul Koomar is running for council president, where incumbent Brian Cruse also cited work and personal reasons for not seeking re-election. Dave Tadych is seeking the Ward 1 seat again. Planning Commission member Clete Miller is running for Koomar’s seat, and incumbent Mike Young is unopposed for the Ward 4 seat.

Mayor Debbie Sutherland and Councilman at Large Dwight Clark’s seats are not up for re-election this year, since their four-year terms are on different cycles.

Sutherland said even though it does not affect elections this year, getting the primary date changed is still a good move.

“We’d save at least $30,000,” she said. “It just makes more sense to have us conform with the rest of the cities and have the county take care of this instead of us having to put out that kind of money when we don’t need to.”